Even though Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Patrik Antonius seem to be stuck at a standstill in the first Durrrr Challenge, the wait for the next challenge might only be a few days away. CardRunners instructor Daniel “jungleman12” Cates agreed to step up to the plate and face the 24-year-old Dwan, and the two could begin their 50,000-hand match as early as this week.
Dwan and Cates were seen discussing the details of their impending bout in a Full Tilt Poker chat box on Monday:
durrrr: did u send ivey $$ yet?
jungleman12: not yet
jungleman12: ill send now
jungleman12: how soon is soon?
durrrr: read ur phone…
jungleman12: ah i see
durrrr: few days at most
durrrr: did u send yet?
jungleman12: yeah
jungleman12: sent
durrrr: then i can start talking &&%%
durrrr: since we’re booked
jungleman12: ?
durrrr: and say that its cute u think u’ll ever have an edge =)
jungleman12: lol
jungleman12: you never seemed like the type
durrrr: never wanna scare off the fish =)
durrrr: but if they escrow….
durrrr: haha ok
durrrr: lmk if u wanna play if not we’ll start in a few days
durrrr: gl n stuff
jungleman12: u2
Phil Ivey will be holding the $500,000 that Cates must put up to take the challenge. Should Cates beat Dwan by as little as $1 over the course of 50,000 hands of $200/$400 Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em or Pot Limit Omaha, Dwan will pony up $1.5 million, as he is offering 3-1 odds to anyone who dares play him. Now that the escrow is in place, the match between durrrr and jungleman12 could begin at any time.
According to PokerTableRatings.com (PTR), Cates is a big lifetime winner against Dwan, taking $786,370 from durrrr over 13,448 hands played on Full Tilt Poker. Only Isildur1, David Benyamine, and Ivey have won against Dwan since PTR started tracking Full Tilt Poker tables in April 2008. Still, Dwan has accumulated nearly $7 million in online cash game profit since that time, making him one of the biggest earners in online poker history.
Cates, whose identity as jungleman12 wasn’t publicly known until this summer, is up $2.2 million on Full Tilt Poker since April 2008. That figure skyrocketed once he began taking shots at the highest stakes on the site, where he’s had a ton of success against Dwan, Ivey, Aaron “aejones” Jones, and Ashton “theASHMAN103” Griffin. Like Dwan, Cates had trouble with Isildur1, dropping $542,518 to the Scandinavian over 21,366 hands (Dwan lost $4.5 million to Isildur1).
Dwan has been active at the nosebleed games this month, logging more than 150,000 hands in just 16 days. Only 182 of those hands came against Antonius on August 3, when Dwan took nearly $560,000 from his Finnish rival. Dwan now leads Antonius by $2,059,719 with more than 10,000 hands left to play in the first Durrrr Challenge. Their match began all the way back in February 2009.
Once it gets underway, the match between Dwan and Cates could end quickly, so tune in to Poker News Daily for the latest updates. Highlights and results can also be found at durrrrchallenge.com.
